The usefulness of serum transferrin receptor for discriminating iron deficiency without anemia in children.

We determined serum transferrin receptor (sTfR), serum erythropoietin and hematologic and biochemical iron parameters in 251 healthy children. The levels of sTfR were significantly higher in children with storage iron deficiency but had a poor sensivity for recognizing iron deficiency without anemia. When ferritin values cannot accurately demonstrate the iron deficiency in children, the sTfR/ferritin ratio or sTfR-log ferritin is recommended to discriminate iron deficiency in the absence of anemia.